t 239 1 



unfrequently found extended from the duodenum^ 

 almoft through the whole trad of the inteftines. 

 Much controverfy has been fpent in determining 

 whether thefe animals have any part that is analo- 

 gous to the brain or head in other animals ; our 

 author affirms the contrary, confidering them as 

 compound animals, conlifting as it were of a chain, 

 every link of which is a perfe6l animal, furnifhed 

 with a mouth, and all its proper organs, and ca- 

 pable, when feparated from its original chain, of 

 propagating its fpecies, as if -by a vegetative 

 power, and independent of any oviparous or vivi- 

 parous procefs. In this idea he is oppofed by Dr. 

 ^yfon, who has figured the head of the I'^nia Solium 

 in the Philofophical Tranfadions ; (fee N° 147, and 

 Lowthorp'' s Ahndgmtni^ Vol. iii. p. 130-,) as alfo 

 by Pallas, in his Elencbus Zoophytorum, and by fome 

 other authors. The Vermes Cucurbitini, or gourd- 

 worms of foregoing writers, are now however allow- 

 ed to be the defcending or pofterior links of the 

 ^ania Solium, and thefe, according to Linn^^us, are 

 again capable of extending themfelves, and pro- 

 ducing another chain. According to Pallas, and 

 others, thefe joints are pregnant with ova. In 

 either cafe the reafon is at once feen why thefe 

 noxious creatures are with fuch difficulty expelled 

 from the human body. Linn^us however does 

 not deny that they are capable of propagation by 

 ova too and fays, they are found, though much, 

 fmaller, in muddy fprings ; to which Pallas with 

 difficulty alTents. Linn^^ius's opinion however is 

 confirmed by fubfequent obfervations \ and in- 

 deed 



